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Despite a sluggish start to kharif planting due to erratic rains in several States during the early part of the season, the total acreage this year has surpassed last year’s level mainly on account of higher area under paddy and pulses.
The area under paddy picked up momentum towards the fag end of the planting season with the total area increasing by 2.38 lakh hectares (lh) to 1,121.81 lh. The area under paddy is higher by 3.2 per cent at 422.73 lh (409.39 lh).
Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab have reported an increase in area, while Odisha and Kerala registered a decline.
Rain deficit down
The South-West monsoon ended up normal as a whole, despite several regions facing deficit during early part of the season. The cumulative rainfall for the country, as a whole, during theJune 1-September 30 period) stood at 874 mm against a normal of 880.6 mm, a deficit of one per cent. Water storage in 130 major reservoirs was 92 per cent of the live storage during the same period a year ago. There are no report of serious pest and disease attacks on the kharif crops, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Among pulses, the area under tur/arhar (pigeon pea) increased to 50.50 lh (48.75 lh), while urad (black matpe) acreage stood at 40.05 lh (39.23 lh). The area under moong (green gram) fell marginally to 35.41 lh (35.53 lh), mainly due to erratic rains in Rajasthan, the largest producer.
The area under coarse/nutri cereals was down at 178.24 lh (182.95 lh) owing to decline in jowar and bajra. Jowar acreage declined to 14.25 lh (15.13 lh), while that of bajra was at 63.37 lh (70.38 lh). Small millets acreage also came down to 4.79 lh (4.90 lh).
The coverage of maize stood at 85.04 lh (82.03 lh), while ragi also increased marginally to 10.79 lh (10.51 lh).
Cash crops
Among oilseeds, the acreage under groundnut was lower at 49.44 lh (51.17 lh), while soyabean remained flat at 122.23 lh. Sesamum and castorseed were lower at 13.62 lh and 7.71 lh, respectively
Among cash crops, sugarcane gained area at 55.22 lh (54.12 lh), while cotton ended the season with a deficit of close to 7.73 lh over last year. Cotton acreage stood at 120.15 lh (127.87 lh).
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